Prof. Dr. Peter Krammer

Programmed cell death, apoptosis, is the most frequent type of natural cell death within an organism. One goal of our division is to understand the molecular and cellular signals causing cells to undergo apoptosis. These findings may be used to specifically force tumor cells into programmed cell death or to prevent apoptosis in diseases such as myocardial infarction, AIDS, stroke or spinal cord injury.

Our research focuses on investigating why and how tumor cells resist apoptosis inducing signals. Our studies might explain the resistance of malignant cells to chemo-, radio- and immunotherapy used in cancer treatment and may open new avenues to resensitize tumors towards therapy.